Menus that heal

It’s a New Year so we’ve got a new menu!

2016 was our best year as a company and that was down to hard work, innovative (and delicious) food creations and above all, excellent customer service! We’ve decided to shake things up and improve even more, starting with creating a brand new menu!

Our Head Chef, Richard Webb, and Food Director, Michelin-starred David Cavalier, put their heads together and took on board new food trends, fan favourites and health food kicks to give our menu a refresh for 2017; they both really enjoyed the idea of food being a healing substance and have incorporated herbs and spices with healing properties to replace unhealthy sugars and salts to keep our lovely clients fighting fit.

So here’s some of our favourite healthy, healing ingredients in our new menu and what they can do for you!

Chili Peppers

There are chili lovers and there are chili haters. Some love an extra spicy Thai Red while others wince at the sight of a ‘flamin’ hot’ bag of Monster Munch. Whatever your allegiance however, these peppers have a profound effect on your body and have been known to boost your metabolism!

Thanks to the active ingredient capsaicin (also known as the delightful bit that sets your mouth on fire) the chili pepper has the ability to burn fat by turning unhealthy ‘white fat’ into healthy ‘brown fat’ which has the ability to burn energy more effectively and creating heat!

Our menu contains plenty of foods with chili in, which is perfect for changing the flavours of a dish and bringing a more authentic taste, just the way it was intended to. Don’t worry though, we won’t leave you begging for water, we walk the fine line between heat and flavour.

What we recommend from the new menu:

A KD favourite, Pad Thai! This boxed salad contains succulent chicken breast on top of soft rice noodles with butterfly prawns, beansprouts all served in a sweet Thai sauce topped with crushed peanuts.

One from our light bites range is gorgeous spiced salmon or chicken skewers, served with a cooling cucumber and mint yoghurt dip!

Ginger

Don’t know about you, but I absolutely love ginger! It adds such a distinctive flavour to a dish. But besides being a tasty addition to your food, did you know that ginger has some healing properties too?

The root is a great anti-inflammatory and it has been known to help fight arthritis! This is through the compound gingerols, which help minimise pain and improve mobility by sending helpful little chemical messengers to the immune system. Its healing properties don’t stop there though, it’s also a great way to alleviate the symptoms of nausea and has been used for hundreds of years by sailors as a remedy for sea sickness and even a way to reduce morning sickness in pregnant women.

We love adding ginger wherever we can and our menu shows it. We make sure our Asian dishes are as authentic as possible and the introduction of ginger in non-Asian dishes is only a plus!

Try these from our new menu:

An Asian duck noodle salad – This freshly made salad features an authentic sautéed duck breast with fine noodles served with a soya dressing and delicious aromatic oriental vegetables! Yum!

Lemon and ginger infused water, what more is there to say? You’ve gotta try it, we know you’ll love it!

Looking for something light, fresh and vegetarian? Try this delicious Asian salad with black beans, shiitake mushrooms, red peppers, bok choy and not forgetting the star of the show, a fresh ginger and sesame dressing!

Cinnamon

Who else loves the smell of cinnamon? It’s a spice that is instantly recognisable no matter where it is used and is in some of the very best dishes whether it be Asian or western foods. We’ve added this amazing spice into our menu, due to its versatility and healing properties.

It seems like the healing properties for cinnamon can go on for pages, so we’ve stuck to one of the most important ones and that is, the ability to stabilise blood sugar levels. It’s said that using cinnamon can reduce the amount of glucose after a meal by interfering with digestive enzymes which can slow the breakdown of carbohydrates… cool, right? That’s why we can’t get enough of cinnamon and we can’t wait until you see what we’ve incorporated it in.

Get your cinnamon fix with these beauties:

A mouthwatering Morrocan tagine! We prepare delicious tomato infused cous cous adding pine nuts, dried fruits and finishing it off with a tender piece of lamb that’s been marinated in a traditional Moroccan spice rub.

Got a craving for something sweet? How about a luscious cinnamon and mulled wine pannacotta from our sweet bites section? Definitely one to keep you coming back for more! (Oh, yeah and the healing thing)

Sage

Finding it tough to remember things? It’s a common problem and we’ve all been there but did you know that Sage can actually help? Sounds pretty farfetched but this little herb can have a positive effect on memory retention, alertness and can even help increase concentration… mind-blowing!

We’ve been adding Sage to our menu wherever we can as there’s nothing like being able to perform even better during a working lunch. Here’s one of our favourites from the menu:

The healthy, rolled up deliciousness of poached chicken roulade or ‘saltimbocca’ as some may know it! This is a delicious chicken breast cutlet flattened and filled with delicious sage, basil and marinated in wine. Definitely one to try!

Rosemary

A sprig of rosemary is never far away on a Sunday lunch for flavouring and garnish but the impressive little herb does so much more! It’s great for boosting memory for one and can even protect the brain; the plucky little herb is great for stress busting and has been shown to reduce levels of cortisol in the blood stream, in turn making you more relaxed. Who would have guessed that a rosemary sprinkled lunch could make you feel better?

What’s on the menu for rosemary?

We haven’t gone overboard on the rosemary (yet) so we’re keeping it simple with an elderflower and rosemary infused water which is a quick and simple way to take advantage of all the benefits such as boosting memory and reducing stress! So… get drinking before you forget.